tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824896765631412903.post425271506729461337..comments2023-09-05T12:51:25.656-05:00Comments on edittorrent: Fixing the End PointEdittorrenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14295505709568570553noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824896765631412903.post-28477122696809758832011-10-06T17:12:10.432-05:002011-10-06T17:12:10.432-05:00Mary Gentle once gave me the tip that in order to ...Mary Gentle once gave me the tip that in order to find the ending you need to work out which question you ask in the beginning of the book. In genre Romance or Mystery that's pretty obvious, in speculative or literary fiction there are many more possible endings, to finding the right one can be harder, particularly when a lot of words are involved. (Mary Gentle herself provides the ultimate measurement of long fiction: the Ash, or 500.000 words.)<br /><br />The answer wasn't so much in the plot as in the underlying themes - I started with a character isolated, doubting himself, wondering whether he would face a war. I ended it with him surrounded by friends, knowing his strengths and weaknesses, and having a fairly good idea about the challenges that lay ahead. And I could stop there.<br /><br />(FWIW, I don't plan ahead at all, but I don't do much in the way of exploratory drafts, either - second draft is a sharpening draft, but much to my surprise, my plots make sense in the end.)green_knighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16499896006012152260noreply@blogger.com